Undone Gears and a Not-So-Secret Story Time
by MediocreViolinist
Summary: Revolves more around Armin. Other characters show up too. Clean, cute, and quick. Also involves a cute language difference headcannon which is somewhat popular. Recent update includes a painful walk down their old home.
1. Chapter 1

The door to the boy's barrack opens and a large group flooded in. No words exchanged, not even if they bumped into one another, just heavy breathing and groaning. They soon branched off to their shared beds to change out of their gear and uniforms, and into casual clothing for dinner.

A short, bald boy flops onto his shared bed, not bothering to take off the dirty, knee-high boots he is wearing, and sighed loudly.

"This training is going to be the death of us," he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. Most people snickered at his words, but gave no reply as they struggled to take off their gear. Others jumped to other conclusions about what will be the true death of them and paled a bit.

"Shut up, Connie. We just want to eat and sleep, not hear you stupid complaints." Snapped another with an under-cut and posh attitude, whose name was Jean. He was struggling to undo a buckle at his hip and was in a mood.

Connie countered with something, but most tuned it out; they knew where this was going.

Across the room and short, blonde-haired person with blue, sharp eyes spoke softly to his turquoise-eyed friend.

"I can see this turning into a fight, though I'm surprised they have the energy," He said as he removed the last of the straps that criss-crossed his body. He managed to keep his movements steady despite the fact he was still a bit out of breath and shaky.

"At least he's picking a fight with Connie and not me. I need food, water and sleep…that-" he dropped into a murmur and the blonde could vouch that they were not the nicest of words. Being around Shadis was a danger for one's health, but their vocabularies had definitely expanded.

He paused for a moment after he slipped into his casual clothes, the sounds of Connie and Jean arguing were loud.

"Armin? Can you read tonight?" The boy with turquoise eyes asked silently.

The blonde paused to consider the question before nodding.

"Of course, I'll need to pick up a different book. We already finished the one-" Armin was cut off by the look on his friend's face. "Eren?"

Armin swore if he squinted he could see a bit of a blush across his friend's face, but Eren let on nothing as he leveled his eyes with Armin's.

"Can you read the other book you have?"

Armin went quiet at Eren's words. Oh. That book. Armin's gaze shifted to the mattress, though it was not the mattress that was of importance of him. More of what was hidden under said mattress. A book in an uncommon language, full of stories. He smiled brightly.

"Sure, but why?"

Most people within the walls spoke one to maybe three languages. Everyone speaks a variation of everyday speak. The general language used throughout the Walls. At least. But some had languages pasted down through family, from the time before the walls. The Arlert family, Armin's family, had spoken English. After his parents went missing, and were presumed dead, Armin dedicated some of his childhood in learning the language from his grandfather, who was almost fluent in it. Needless to say, Armin was very good at it. Eren's family on the other hand, were German. He more so than Mikasa could speak it.

"I like it when you speak English," he said.

"O-oh, okay," Armin feels a small smile creep onto his face, his surge of happiness was ruined by the sound of his stomach.

Eren gestured to the door as Armin tossed the remainder of his gear onto the bed. They could meet the others in the mess hall, when they were done bickering.

The boys left to find a table with Mikasa, their childhood friend and Eren's adoptive sister.

"Hello, Mikasa!" they said as they sat down, Eren beside her and Armin across from them.

They make small talk about training while they ate their meals, and soon others joined them at their table, like Connie and Sasha, who had learned never to ask food from Mikasa, Marco, Reiner and Berthold.

The little table became loud; topics soon changed flowing into one another, until Eren suddenly makes an announcement.

"Armin is going to read tonight."

With those words, everyone smiled and cheered. It became a thing for Armin to read to those who will listen in the barracks. Ever since Armin had been reading with Eren one night and suddenly Connie fell out of bed trying to listen and everyone had laughed. They were all trying to listen and stayed awake far after curfew to do so, of course, Reiner, dragging Bertholdt with him, climbed down from their bunks to sit with Armin and Eren. Other soon got the message until they sat on or around the bottom bunk where they sleep. Armin had read until the end that night.

"Don't get too excited," Armin spoke to calm them, "I'll be reading in English."

Some nodded and Connie still cheered.

The others began talking about what they hoped the book to be like, and Armin merely sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Something prodded his foot under the table, he assumed it was another foot. He looked up from the little left of his food and caught Mikasa staring.

"Mikasa?" He vocalized.

"Do not read the whole book. You asked me and I said I would help. Tonight." Mikasa said.

Armin nodded slowly. This was definitely going to be a long night.

"Thank you Mikasa." He smiled and she shook her head affectionately.

Suddenly, the entrance to the mess hall creaked open and Shadis's face filled the crack.

"What's going on in here?" He asked almost innocently.

No one dared to answer.

"Well, I do believe curfew is coming up, so everyone…" His eyes darkened.

"GO TO SLEEP."

Everyone scrambled to get up, put their dishes away and hurry to their barracks. Expect those on dish duty, which were Marco, Annie and Reiner.

Reiner quickly caught Bertholdt's arm before he ran off.

"Tell Armin to wait for Marco and I."

"But you don't know English…" the taller boy gave him a hard glare.

"Doesn't matter." Reiner countered nonchalantly.

Bertholdt sighed and left. Which earned him a smile from Reiner.

It took them a while to get settled to hear the reading. Some opted to say in their beds and listen and some were on Armin and Eren's shared bed.

Armin pulled a book from under the mattress and carefully checked the cover for damage. None was present, which calmed him a bit.

Thing was, this was the only book Armin had left from his family. It was a book of short stories, ranging from princes and princesses to thieves, and daring adventures involving treasure. His grandfather, who had died in the battle to take the land back, handed it down to him. He cherished it, it held the memories he refused to let go of.

He opened the table of contents to pick a story when he heard Bertholdt call to him from his bed.

"Marco and Reiner would like you to wait for them."

"Sure, I don't mind." Armin said as he opened the book.

Everyone around him tried not to groan. Connie failed drastically at it.

Armin focused of trying to find a decent story to read them, that wasn't too long, so he could sleep a bit before midnight.

He decided he would read the story of Spirit, which was a story about a bandit who stole from the cargos moving across the land, and he falls in love with a captive of his and they get married and she helps him with plunders. That is, until she kills him, because she sees how glorious of a life it is, but she does not wish to share it with him.

Armin finds it rather cruel, but good. In addition, it is shorter than most of the other stories.

Marco and Reiner creak the door open and see the sight before them. The story had not started, Reiner gives a quick glance at his friend, who is already in a strange sleeping position, and smiles.

"Finally! We can start!" Eren sits up from where he was laying. Smiling he sits up against his pillow, which he had propped against Armin.

They quickly found places to sit, Marco beside Jean and Reiner slide in beside Bertholdt, trying to not get in the way of the artful sleeping habit of his friend.

When they were seated all eyes were on Armin, and he knew it. He took a deep breath, turned to the page where the story started and began to read in a calm, soft voice, which seemed to fit the language he was speaking, that fluctuated as needed with the story.

"Where normal stories start with a 'long, long time ago', this one merely starts in a sword fight…"


	2. The City in Ruins (Mind is Pieces)

This carried on for the recruit's years of training and well into their days at the Survey Corps.

Along the way, they lost friends, and gained commanding officers. Yet, no matter what the stories stayed the same, ranging between Armin's old storybook to books he picked up from the rumble over the years. When he picked up the books out of the destruction that surrounded him, he always felt a sense of sadness, knowing that their previous owners would never be able to read them again. Armin silently vowed to read them, taking time to look over each page as if he was looking at the hope of humanity. For books were meant to be read, and if they were not, then the knowledge that had been put in the books is wasted.

Which is why the day when he and Eren returned to their hometown he snuck away. Only briefly, as Eren fell to his knee in front of the rumble that was once his home. When Eren held back tears as his eyes stared at the spot where Hannes had pulled him away from his mother, as if he could kill a titan with his stare. Armin snuck away to the half-standing structure where his grandfather raised him. Where he had last said goodnight to his parents before they left and never came back.

He choked back his own sobs as he stepped over the splinters that once was the front door, and into the house. As he entered, memories of his childhood hit him like Levi's foot when he was unable to keep up in practice.

Times when Eren stood wearily behind him as they walked into the house to clean Armin's cuts and look at his bruises from when the older kids had hurt him, or when Eren slept over after begging his parents and they would read Armin's grandfather's illegal book on the outside world.

A cruel laugh bubbled in his chest. The book that started them on the crazy path that lead to here. The book that filled them with wonder and longing to see the outside world, with all its new sights and wonders.

_Life is cruel_, he thought as he moved towards his grandfather's room_. It is cruel and unfair, that it takes what it gives. To step forward, one must be prepare to lose everything._

His grandfather's room was practically untouched, excepted for the fallen bookshelf and broken window. Armin walked further into the room and knelt beside the fallen bookshelf.

"Since we're already fugitives what harm is an illegal book?" Armin questioned aloud to the empty air around him. He gripped the sides and flipped the shelf onto its back, off the books.

Then he began his search for the familiar reddish-brown cover he would read in the candle light when the sunlight was completely void from the sky. He suspected it would be the bottom most book from the shelf, but in the end was wrong. He searched every book that was on the shelf, until he stopped and rested his head in his hands.

Armin abruptly stood and walked over the corner where a single cot was tucked. He then fell to his knees and reached under to retrieve a folded blanket.

_How could I have forgotten?_

He unfolded the blanket and there it sat, untouched by dust and destruction. Armin ran his fingers over the cover and he felt the tears well up. Despite all his happiness that the book was fine, that a piece of himself remained intake, a part of him wishes it had been destroyed, either burnt or unable to read because of water or dirt.

_It should have been destroyed_. His mind screamed

Armin sighed, no longer he feeling rushed to get back to his squad as he clutched the book to his chest, rested his head on the cot, and cried.

In the end, Jean found him. Kneeling in his grandfather's room, book clutched closely to him. Hs tears gone.

"Armin? Are you in here?" Jean's voice whispered as loud as he dare as he entered the once cozy home. "Armin?"

Eren, unable to get away from his basement, as he had to gather his father's research, had noticed Armin's absence and had a good guess at where he may be. He gave Jean the directions to where Armin used to live.

He stopped and looked around calling out Armin's name.

"I'm in here."

Immediately, Jean's head whipped towards Armin's voice and traced it back to the room. He knelt beside Armin when he saw him.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jean asked him, obviously concerned.

Armin nodded slightly and rose to his feet, mentioning they should return to Eren's house.

Jean, catching that Armin did not want to talk about it, agreed and they left the house.

"Armin, what is that?" Jean asked as they walked down the empty, torn up streets of a once busy city.

"A book." Armin said without much emotion as he tucked it into his jacket. Jean went silent yet again and Armin sighed. "I'm sorry Jean; it's just something personal from my childhood. From before, our lives changed."

_And did they ever change._


End file.
